The proposed study focuses on "family style" in child-abusive families, and coping style in abused children. Family style is conceptualized as the pattern of attitudes and interpersonal relations within the family along particular dimensions. Coping behaviors are defined as strategies for achieving mastery and self-gratification. In addition, the impact of external stress on the lives of abusive families will be assessed. A comparison is planned of abusive families with non-abusive families on the dimension of familyy style. Income level will be controlled. The coping behaviors of abused and non-abused children will also be compared. A variety of structured and unstructured situations will be used to assess the variables of interest. These situations will include parent interviews, individual congnitive assessments of the children, parent-child play sessions and peer group play settings for the children. The scores derived from these data will be analyzed using factor analytic and correlational techniques for the purposes of answering certain questions: 1) Is child-abuse indicative of particular family style(s)? 2) Is child-abuse or the family style related to coping behavior in the children? To date, 57 mothers and 7 fathers have been interviewed and observed in interaction with one or more of their pre-school children. In addition, 37 children have been observed in interaction with peers in a pre-school classroom. A total of 550 mothers and 140 fathers and their children are to be studied by the time the study is complete.